


Sympathy From The Devil

by Cai_Artz



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst With A Bittersweet Ending, Bittersweet, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, The Doctor needs a hug, the Master being a dick, the Master gives it to her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22226905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cai_Artz/pseuds/Cai_Artz
Summary: Based on a request from tumblr13/Dhawan!Master: The Master comforts the Doctor about the events of Heaven Sent (because I’m still reeling from that episode two years later. It was just,,,amazing. But it wasn’t brought up much again?? The Doctor was tortured for 4.5 billion years and the show doesn’t show the reproductions of that at all)
Relationships: The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 229





	Sympathy From The Devil

**Author's Note:**

> Oof this one is a tad bit angsty. I didn’t want the Master to be like too nice, but I also wanted to have him sympathize in his own twisted sense. And then this sort of happened.
> 
> Anyway fuck Gallifrey rights
> 
> if you want to leave a request or just come say hi you can do so here!
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th

Telepathy, in all its forms, tended to have repercussions. This was no less true for the Doctor who, after prolonged contact with the Master, could still feel the aftereffects of their conversation. The Master’s thoughts still lingering in her mind even after she had defeated him. If she concentrated hard enough, she could feel something akin to remorse, a feeling so faint she couldn’t even tell if it was her own. She had said nothing to her companions after going back to Gallifrey, only gently nudging them to go visit their families, which they happily did, leaving her alone on her TARDIS drifting in deep space. She knew the Master was still alive, that he had escaped, she felt his burning anger, the betrayal. It brought its own memories to the surface of her mind, the feeling of anger as she (he?) stepped out of her own tailored hellscape and onto the hot Gallifreyan sand, she could still remember the dull pain of her bloodied knuckles. The betrayal she felt as she stood before the council, clenching her fists as they revealed what they had planned for her. She must have been thinking about it too hard, because a wave of sympathy flooded over her only to be quickly snuffed out by intrigue, then anger, then hatred, then satisfaction. It was him, she knew it was, he was out there somewhere all she had to do was-

 _Contact._ There was a pause, she paced the console room with bated breath. Then- 

_Contact._ His voice, his mind was rough, like he had been screaming out. _I can hear you._ He said, _your thoughts are so loud Doctor, how do you sleep at night?_

 _I don’t,_ she replied, pushing memories of sleepless nights to the forefront of her mind. She laid her soul out for him, as she so often did letting him prod against the barriers of her mind with gentle force. He never looked too deep, never treaded where she did not want him to even after all these years.

 _Good thing I burnt it all down then. They deserved it, for what they did to you. To us_. She realized then that he could see it, every moment she had spent in the confession dial, laid bare against the conflicted feelings she had against Gallifrey. Her home did not deserve to burn, all those innocent people, but what they did to her…

_I escaped. In the end._

_We both did_ , he said, then, _let me in Doctor._ For a moment, she couldn’t tell what he meant by that. Had she not done so already? Thousands of years ago. There was a knock at her door, a soft one too hesitant. Slowly, she made her way across the console room and towards the TARDIS doors, opening them only to come face to face with him. He grinned, animalistic and terrifying. His Tardis parked right in front of her's as they drifted lazily in space. She knew all his faces by now, long enough to know the grin he wore was one of protection, like an animal baring its teeth against an oncoming predator. All bark, no bite. 

“Aren’t you going to let me in? My dear Doctor?” She sighs, stepping back into her TARDIS only for him to step forward back into her space. The door shuts behind him, she lets out a shuddering breath. “Doctor,” he purrs, his voice rough yet gentle in a way she hadn’t heard for a long, long time. He’s still in her mind, reaching out both physically and mentally as if searching for something.

“What are you doing?” She gasps, trying to close off the memories of her torture, four billion years of constant dying. He hushes her, hand still reaching out to hold her's, his mind still tugging and pulling at her memories until finally, it stops. Her hand held in his and her memories comforted by the feeling of love. 

“My Doctor,” he presses a gentle kiss on her forehead, pulling her into a hug, “oh how they broke you.”

“S-stop it!” she hiccups, burying her face in his neck. 

“Me and you,” he mutters, lips brushing the shell of her ear, “against all of Gallifrey. It will always be me and you in the end.” She whimpers, her hands coming up to clutch at his coat, fingers digging into the fabric. “They don’t stand a chance,” he says, pulling her away from him only to seal their fate with a kiss.


End file.
